John Lennon, More Popular Than Jesus

 

 

 

John Lennon, More Popular Than Jesus

Pop Religion Series

 

In 1966 John Lennon stated to the press that he was "More popular than Jesus".  The quote ignited a press and public feeding frenzy. 

 

People and groups rapidly chose sides.  Christians castigated him for the sacrilege they perceived. Ministers, screaming from the pulpit latched onto the statement to prove that Rock and Roll was an instrument of the devil.  Religious commentators, foaming at the mouth, declared the event as a sign of the impending apocalypse. Perky teeny boppers,  bristling arrogantly with righteous indignation, made bonfires of their Beatles albums while being filmed for national television.  It was an altogether exciting public event.

 

I think that younger people who were not present at that time may wonder what all the clamor was about.  Back in the day religion did not have a sense of humor.  (I am not sure that there has been much change in this attitude?) Religion was deadly serious.  The consequences of breaking the strict commandments meant serious punishment after death.  For John, a mere human, to infer that he was in the same class as the god Jesus was shocking sacrilege.

 

 

In this picture John Lennon is an avatar of Jesus. 

 

There are similarities between John and Jesus. Similarities in their teachings and in their life.  Both were impossibly idealistic.  Just because ideals are impossible does not preclude believing in them.  We need guiding stars,  simple and sweet works.  Alice Wonderland believes in three impossible things before breakfast. 

 

John sang "Imagine all the people living life in peace". 

 

 Jesus said, "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."

 

Both Jesus and John were martyred.  Both were murdered in the prime of life. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is what Wikipedia says about the event:

              

History of The Beatles
The Quarrymen In Hamburg At The Cavern Club Decca audition Beatlemania in the United Kingdom North American releases In the United States 1966 More popular than Jesus Studio years In India Break-up Reunions Line-ups Religious beliefs Timeline
v t e

"More popular than Jesus" was a controversial remark made by musician John Lennon of the Beatles in 1966. Lennon said that Christianity was in decline and that the Beatles had become more popular than Jesus Christ. When the quote appeared in the American teen magazine Datebook, angry reactions flared up from Christian communities in August 1966. Lennon had originally made the remark in March 1966 during interviews with Maureen Cleave on the lifestyles of the four individual Beatles. When Lennon's words were first published, in the London Evening Standard in the United Kingdom, they had provoked no public reaction.

When Datebook quoted Lennon's comments five months later, vociferous protests broke out in the southern United States. The Beatles' records were publicly burned, press conferences were cancelled and threats were made.

 

IMAGINE

Lyrics to John Lennon's song

 

Imagine there is no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky

 

Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too

 

Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You, you may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you will join us
And the world will be as one

 

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man

 

Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You, you may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you will join us
And the world will live as one


Hey you! Thanks for stopping by.  I gotta go now.  I think that my brain programming is wearing off.  Gonna go watch the tube now.  My favorite new programs are:  "Fear and Loathing"  and "Moan and Whine."  I also like Lena Dunham's new show,  "Mastering Manipulation".

 

Art Show on a Table,2

 

Art Show on a Table, 2

 

 

 

 Art Show on a Table

 

 

Mary by de Bayou

 

 

 

Merry Christmas!

Art Show on a Table

 

 

 

 

Art Show on a Table

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dancer in Opal

 

Dancer in Opal

Ink jet print, 24M, 12/2013

Dancer in Opal is an illustration of a transcendental state.  I have had experiences like this since I was a child.  Once I saw a burning bush.  My father, sisters and I were walking in our woods.  A young pine tree zapped me with a full view of its iridescent shimmering aura.  Abruptly, my father whacked my butt, once, sharply,  to pull me out of the "episode".  Evidently going into spontaneous trance states is inappropriate.

 

 

 

 Dancer in Opal Head

 

 

 

On Art Methods

Art has been a joy for me since childhood.  I loved finger paints, and remember being aware of colors early.  Over the years (I am 69) I have made art almost continuously.  Oil and acrylic painting and drawing were enduring loves. 

 

I started doing Photoshop in about 1999.  A neighbor gave me a bootlegged copy.  I was hooked immediately.  Over the course of teaching my self Photoshop I saw that my painting skills transferred to digital painting relatively easily.  Both mediums employ brushes, translucence/opacity, line, volume, color, texture and other creative tools.  Both mediums have advantages. 

 

In Photoshop you can take a finished version of a picture, duplicate it and use it again in a new way.  And make prints of both versions.  Maybe you saw the "Opalescent" picture in the last blog entry, that digital picture evolved into this ecstatic picture.  I drew a silhouette of the dancer, the silhouette was filled with the "Opalescent" cutout.  I may soon use a print of this px as a plan for an oil on canvas.  Or I might adapt the dancer for collaging.  So art evolves and stays interesting.

Digital art has been around for a few decades now.  It is taking time to be a recognized as suitable for fine art.  Just as photography took time to be recognized as a legitimate artistic expression.

I have been rejected for shows because I collaged original digital cutouts into acrylic paintings.  I like the tiny detail obtained with digital prints.  Smaller detail than I am willing to paint with a "real" brush. 



 The current David Hockney, exhibit of digital paintings, at de Young Museum, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, Calf, USA, is a signal that the best digital art is being recognized as fine art.  Hockney has been at the top of the art food chain since the 1960's..  He is called a living master of oil painting.


Tis the season!  Have a loving and joyful holiday seasoned with sweetness. 







No Rules!

Opalescent

Digital painting, 24M, 12/2013

Why do I love making art?

NO RULES!

The canvas is like a small piece of real estate, it is a concrete part of the world.  The canvas is a neighborhood and a series of canvasses can make a city.  Or, a vision of Heaven. (I  avoid Hell.  Why go there?)  (Yes, I reserve the right to contradict myself.)  I can watch the bloom of an imaginary Elysian Fields unfold.  I can, me, by myself, unrestricted by the plans of others, I can populate that empty space of matter with a comic/serious personal pantheon or any other preposterous images concocted by my muse.  Haha, how fun is that?

The canvas allows me to translate the ephemeral landscape of mind, of personal imagination, into concrete reality.  This is a place where I can replace the monkey mind radio with entrancing colors, and occupy myself with the craft of making marks.  My head gets quieter.

 Freedom on a small flat surface, freedom to make a tiny bit of material wiggle in anyway that I can wrangle. 

When I face a white stretched canvas,  I have a space that is not constrained by rules.  There are guidelines.  Yes.  Composition guidelines.  Color harmony theories.  Appropriate imagery is expected, but not mandatory.  All of these guidelines may be broken.  In fact, an artist can make a career of consciously ignoring any of these guidelines and expectations.  In fact, whole artistic movements have centered on breaking the norm.

The best art is subversive.

Creating something totally new on canvas, I am constrained by the limits inherent in the paint.  Paint can do amazing things, but there are limits.  And, I must work primarily within the limits of my skills, but there is also, the challenge of expanding skills.


Making art is the only place where I find unrestricted freedom.

 

Rule Rules, Rules

OK, you get it, I don't like rules.  I have been surprised to find that some people do like rules.  They are relieved to know the correct way to behave.  This discovery gave me food for thought.

Some guidelines are necessary.  But, too many rules restrict us from reaching our full potential.  Rules can dampen the spirit, constrict the soul.

Common courtesy guidelines help with the flow of personal relationships.  Good manners are simply consideration for the other person. 
 
I/you must edit thoughts before they make it out of the mouth. Words can hurt.


Remember all the rules of school?

Sit in your desk. Sit still don't wiggle.  Don't talk.  Pay attention. No running in the hall.  Is the real function of school to mold behavior, put us in a straight jacket of appropriateness? We were trained to follow the rules.  Stop that or you will get detention. Are we molded to be compliant worker bees.  Go to the principles office!  NOW!  Shame!

This is something that I do not understand:  Why do so many children need medication to make them appropriate for school?  Wouldn't it be better if the school was appropriate for the children?  To expect an eight year old child to sit still for hours at a time, is unreasonable and inhibits the free blooming of the student.

 We must follow the rules of laws, of course. Some rules we need, to oil the gears, to keep us from stepping on each other.  But, must we also follow the superfluous, irrational laws.

There are procedural rules.  Like, the procedure for driving a car is strict.  No playing with the rules on that channel.

So some rules are necessary, but many just restrict personal freedom. 









Here are two articles about rule breaking art.  I was confused about the artist who made "Piss Christ".  I had him confused with Damien Hirst.  Hirst floats zebras and calves in tanks of formaldehyde.  I guess I was fundamentally confused, because in my mind urine and formaldehyde both have a disgust factor.  In my mind both zebras and the crucifix should receive some respect.  Or maybe not.  Just another tidbit for thought.  These artists took a sledge hammer to appropriate imagery. 

Rule Breaking Shock Tactics

Blasphemous’ art work is damaged

April 19, 2011

AN ARTWORK depicting a crucifix in a glass of urine, named Piss Christ, has been attacked by protesters at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Avignon. New Yorker Andres Serrano’s photograph was attacked just hours after nearly 1,000 demonstrators gathered to protest over the “blasphemous display” outside the museum. Two people managed to force their way into the museum and attacked the Piss Christ with a hammer. Another photograph, showing a nun’s hands at prayer, was also attacked. No one was arrested but security camera pictures have been passed on to police. The Piss Christ was being shown as part of an exhibition titled I Believe in Miracles to mark the 10th anniversary of the Lambert collection in the former papal city. Catholic activists from the group Institut Civitas had called the protest about the exhibition and general secretary Alain Escada told La Provence newspaper: “We are living in times of Christianophobia. We demand that this work be withdrawn from the Lambert collection”. The abbot of Cacqueray said to the newspaper: “Imagine if Mohammed or Anne Frank had been bathed in urine. This secularism is done against Christ while installing Islam in France. We would be as well to rename secularism as Islamism.” The museum reopens today amid reports that staff have been sent death threats. It has the Piss Christ still in place so people can see the damage. Created in 1987, the photograph has been called the original “shock art” as it predated many of the more modern examples such as Marcus Harvey’s collage of Myra Hindley created from children’s handprints and Damien Hirst’s shark in formaldehyde.

Blasphemous’ art work is damaged

April 19, 2011

AN ARTWORK depicting a crucifix in a glass of urine, named Piss Christ, has been attacked by protesters at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Avignon. New Yorker Andres Serrano’s photograph was attacked just hours after nearly 1,000 demonstrators gathered to protest over the “blasphemous display” outside the museum. Two people managed to force their way into the museum and attacked the Piss Christ with a hammer. Another photograph, showing a nun’s hands at prayer, was also attacked. No one was arrested but security camera pictures have been passed on to police. The Piss Christ was being shown as part of an exhibition titled I Believe in Miracles to mark the 10th anniversary of the Lambert collection in the former papal city. Catholic activists from the group Institut Civitas had called the protest about the exhibition and general secretary Alain Escada told La Provence newspaper: “We are living in times of Christianophobia. We demand that this work be withdrawn from the Lambert collection”. The abbot of Cacqueray said to the newspaper: “Imagine if Mohammed or Anne Frank had been bathed in urine. This secularism is done against Christ while installing Islam in France. We would be as well to rename secularism as Islamism.” The museum reopens today amid reports that staff have been sent death threats. It has the Piss Christ still in place so people can see the damage. Created in 1987, the photograph has been called the original “shock art” as it predated many of the more modern examples such as Marcus Harvey’s collage of Myra Hindley created from children’s handprints and Damien Hirst’s shark in formaldehyde.         Damien Hirst, Reportedly Britain's Richest Living Artist from Wikipedia

   

Damien Hirst
Hirst in a still from the movie The Future of Art
Birth name	Damien Steven Hirst
Born	(1965-06-07) 7 June 1965 (age 48) Bristol, England, UK
Nationality	British
Field	Conceptual art, installation art, painting
	Damien Steven Hirst[1] (born 7 June 1965) is an English artist, entrepreneur and art collector. He is the most prominent[2] member of the group known as the Young British Artists (or YBAs), who dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s.[3] He is internationally renowned,[4] and is reportedly Britain's richest living artist, with his wealth valued at £215m in the 2010 Sunday Times Rich List.[5][6]

Cardinal Woman

Cardinal Woman

Ink jet print, 12/2013

 

 

This recently completed painting speaks for itself,  I can't think of any words that would add anything to its beauty, except maybe "Death is the beauty of the rose". 

 

 

 

Pajama Friday at Barnes and Noble

 

I went to Barnes and Noble yesterday.  B+N is one of my favorite hangouts.  No matter what city I find myself in,  (haha, that makes it sound like I get around a bit, when in truth I have become something of a recluse) the comfy environment and the pleasure of scanning books while drinking coffee and eating a croissant draws me in. 
 

I browsed the books.  I thought about buying a philosophy by  Neitzsche but the jacket quip emphasized nihilism, a perspective that rejects all moral principles and holds the belief that all human endeavor is futile.  This was not for me, I have decided to hold only those beliefs that support happiness or promote compassionate love.  I would rather be happy than right. Especially since the pursuit of right beliefs has only left me confused by all the contradicting information.  

 

I found the book, "Depression for Dummies", and thought about reading it but then I thought, I can do depression all by myself, I do not need to read a how to book, I can do sinking into a mudhole of despair without any instructions. 

 

I can also pull myself out of the mud.  All it takes is a little denial of the facts of life.  Positive thinking works but since it is so difficult to frame the facts of death and injustice in a positive light without turning summersaults of irrationality, I just call it denial.

I saw a perky person wearing cartoon printed flannel pajamas standing between the paned glass doors and the magazine display, she was amusing.  Then I saw two other people wearing apparel appropriate for couch potato time.  I guess it was pajama Friday.  Very interesting.  A kid in a grey onesie checked me out.  I bought Dave the book, "Exceptional Chickens" and a jigsaw puzzle of a world map.

But wait, in this one blog, I posted a picture of youthful bloom/cold death.  I wrote, death, beauty, rose.  And, I wrote that I deny death.  I guess that you can see the problem here, confusion?

Bye now,  gotta go watch my favorite new TV channel,  it is called "Crock A Shit Chanel", have you seen it?  My fave program is called, "Composting for Doomsday".